Chinchilla Sand Baths – Chinchillas Taking a Dust Bath
Chinchillas might be unable to survive in the absence of a dust bath. Now and then, they take out time to have a dust bath. Due to this, a dust bath can be regarded as their natural behavior. There are lots of reasons why they have dust baths. However, two very prominent reasons are the role dust baths play in cleaning their coats and ensuring it stays healthy and also the relaxation that they obtain from dust baths.
Because chinchillas love dust baths, if you have one as a pet, you should ensure you give it regular dust baths. Unlike chinchillas that live on their own, you cannot give your chinchilla a natural dust bath. You can, however, make use of chinchilla dusts that are sold in stores. This type of dust is suited for this purpose and will, therefore, be an excellent way to get your chinchilla comfortable. Just like chinchillas benefit from playing in natural dust, when they play in dust gotten from stores, it does not only stay on their fur, it goes deep down and makes contact with their skin. During this process, it absorbs all forms of dirt and excess oil. This, therefore, makes their coats clean.
Apart from chinchilla dust, there are other sands, as well as powders which can be used to provide your chinchilla a dust bath. They, however, will not have the same effect that chinchilla dust will have on your chinchilla. The simple reason for this is chinchilla dust which can be gotten in stores was produced in a way that it functions like the dust which chinchilla play in when in their natural habitat.
When providing chinchilla dust for your chinchilla to bath in, it is essential that you pour it into a container that is quite big so that your chinchilla can have the much-needed space to roll in it.
When providing a dust bath for chinchilla, you have to come up with a schedule that works just fine. Although you might be tempted to leave the chinchilla dust in a container in its cage so it can have access to it any time it wants a dust bath, that will be a wrong move. You should always keep your chinchilla dust away from your chinchilla and make it available to it occasionally. If you allow your chinchilla bath too much in its box, it might start experiencing a diminishing return as its skin will lose essential oils. Also, your chinchilla, might convert the container housing dust to a litter box. You do not want this. Due to this, you should have a schedule for allowing your chinchilla to have a dust bath.
Conclusion
If you are not sure how to draw up a schedule, allow your chinchilla bath in its dust bath two times a week. This should be done for about fifteen minutes each time.
There is no hard and fast rule to this. So, if you notice your chinchilla looks too rough, you might let it a bath in dust more often.
